TRENTON
– Division on Civil Rights Director
Chinh Q. Le announced today that the Bank
of New York Mellon has agreed to pay a former
employee a total of $188,037 to resolve
allegations the worker was harassed on the
job at a bank office in Hudson County because
of his race and sexual orientation, then
discharged after he complained about a hostile
work environment.
In
addition to agreeing to pay former mail
operations employee Paul Nathan to resolve
his complaint, the Bank of New York Mellon
also has agreed to pay the Division on Civil
Rights $5,000. The Division earlier had
joined in Nathan’s discrimination
complaint. Under terms of the settlement,
the Bank of New York Mellon makes no admission
of wrongdoing.
“This
is an important outcome for the Respondent
and for employees throughout New Jersey.
Hopefully, it will remind employers that
every worker has a right to be treated with
respect, and to do his or her job in a harassment-free
environment,” said Director Le. “Our
commitment is to ensure that employers keep
harassment out of the work place, and that
employees who come forward with allegations
of discrimination are not subject to reprisal.”
Nathan,
of Flushing Meadow, N.Y., was employed with
a securities and asset management company
owned by the Bank of New York in Hudson
County when he filed his original discrimination
complaint in late 2006. He subsequently
amended the complaint to include retaliation
after his employer fired him. (The Bank
of New York later merged with Mellon Financial
Corp. and became the Bank of New York Mellon.)
An
employee of the company’s Enclosing
Mail Operations department, Nathan charged
in his original complaint that he and another
African-American worker were routinely assigned
to the largest, most difficult and burdensome
equipment in the so-called “green
room” without assistance in lifting
heavy materials. The green room was where
the company’s master mailer machines
were located.
Nathan’s
complaint charged that non-African-American
workers were not regularly assigned to such
green room duty and, if they were, received
help in dealing with the heavy lifting.
A Finding of Probable Cause issued by the
Division on Civil Rights reported that a
half-dozen other Bank of New York Mellon
employees interviewed by State investigators
corroborated Nathan’s account of disparate
treatment. Two witnesses corroborated Nathan’s
claim that the green room was also referred
to as “the plantation.”
Nathan
also told investigators he was targeted
for acts of harassment by co-workers because
of his acknowledged homosexuality. Among
other things, Nathan charged that he’d
been called names and subjected to derogatory
comments about his sexual orientation, as
well as at least one racially and sexually
offensive photograph and caption, and a
threat that he would be sodomized with a
stick. Although the Bank of New York Mellon
acknowledged placing Corrective Action Notices
in the personnel files of two management
employees implicated by Nathan, the employees
denied Nathan’s allegations. The bank
also denied firing Nathan as a retaliatory
move.
The
matter was resolved through the Division’s
conciliation process. Under terms of the
settlement, the Bank of New York Mellon
has agreed to pay Nathan as follows: $38,224.19
for back pay; $7,550.48 that would have
been contributed to Nathan’s medical,
dental and other benefits; $7,912.32 that
would have been contributed to his retirement
plan; $31,550.48 for humiliation, mental
pain and suffering; $70,000 for bodily injury
claims and $25,000 for legal fees. The bank
also has agreed to pay for therapy sessions
for Nathan with a licensed psychologist,
psychiatrist or psychotherapist up to a
maximum amount of $150 per hourly session
and a maximum frequency of once per week
for a maximum period of 52 weeks.
In
addition, the bank has agreed to expunge
from all records any indication that Nathan
was discharged, and to put in place effective
anti-discrimination and anti-harassment
policies and procedures. Those policies
and procedures are to include clearly articulated
information about what kind of conduct is
prohibited, and a clearly defined complaint
process for employees to use in reporting
discrimination and harassment.
The Nathan/Bank of New York Mellon matter
was investigated by Division on Civil Rights
Investigator Elbia Concepcion and supervised
by Atley Tyler of the Division’s Trenton
office. The conciliation was conducted by
Ana Limo-Magras.
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